Lots of people aspire to be leaders in their fields of endeavour. However, it takes a lot of considerable work to set the motion rolling. At the basics, we’re usually taught that there are essential qualities an individual must possess before being labelled a leader, the very common ones being competence, self-discipline, problem solving, listening, and commitment, among others. But there is that one which hasn’t had much emphasis; reading.

The world most successful leaders — the likes of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson — are self acclaimed prolific readers and have attached their success not just to their obvious leadership qualities but to reading books as well. If this is anything to go by, it’s a further validation that reading is a very important skill every aspiring leader must have to attain heights.

Although, there are so many books these leaders claim to have motivated and inspired them to push limites, but seven of them have been carefully selected for aspiring leaders in all walks of life to learn from.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (Steven R. Covey)

In this book Steven stated seven timeless lessons covering success and leadership. He explained these steps by breaking them down into continual improvement and independence which results in meaningful and consistent growth. Steven further emphasised on mindset change through self-mastery and embracing an alternative perspective. You may download the eCopy.

How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie)

I particularly recall a part of that book that mentioned President Theodore Roosevelt looking up the ceiling in the white house to stare at the portrait of Abraham Lincoln. The portrait, he said, gave him the motivation to overcome complex problems anytime he faces one. Carnegie describes in this book, how to make people feel very important, converting them to your friends and using that instance in your favour to make people like you. The book explore various scenario on how to interact with people with ease of communication in a meaningful way. If you show interest in people genuinely, to win them over would not be so difficult. The eCopy is available for download.

The War of Art (Steven Pressfield)

To be creative in any field of endeavour one would require to face a whole lot of battle and that is simply the art of war. Every great invention, business stride, innovation that people have made today didn’t just come from the table of easiness but an iota of fear has always dropped in the minds of these people, at one point or the other procrastination, self-doubt and worry have striked all those who have made giant strides. You may proceed to get the eCopy.

The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

The saying goes that ‘do not judge a book by its cover’. Same can be said for the Alchemist isn’t so much of a fancy book. But on reading it, I discovered it was a bit different from ordinary. though it’s a pure work of fiction, the book explains life as a journey. The only competition you have is no one but you, what you always want to achieve should be persuaded with might irrespective of circumstance. The book describes the tale of a shepherd boy who pursued his own legend, when you that “the universe conspires in helping you achieve it” and that is the point your ordinary metal turns to gold as the title suggest. The eCopy is available for download.

Meditations (Marcus Aurelius)

Though Marcus surrounds the book on Stoic philosophy yet book describes the road map to living a better life by removing the excess that would surely bring setbacks. I also shows how to rise above distractions to maintain our everyday life principle. Meditations actually helps us to control thoughts, emotions and removal of stress. Why not download the eCopy already?

The Innovator’s Dilemma (Clayton Christensen)

In his book the Harvard professor and business person went entirely different from the norm, the path to “disruptive innovation.” According to Christensen there lies a need to reject the needs of the customers now in favour of new innovations and technology that would meet their needs in the future, on the long run they get to be the beneficiary of the “disruption”. Here’s the eCopy.

Tribes (Seth Godin)

Godin shared successful tips to take in stepping outside the status quo to do something meaningful. You may proceed to downloading the eCopy.